


Fermented Flower

by kenji1104, SuperbOwl



Series: The Frivolous Romance Saga [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Blow Jobs, Breastfeeding, Comedy, Cowgirl Position, Cunnilingus, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Groping, Lactation, Lotus Position, One-Sided Attraction, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Post-Golden Deer Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Romance, Sex, Smut, Unrequited Love, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:41:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24880243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenji1104/pseuds/kenji1104, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperbOwl/pseuds/SuperbOwl
Summary: It was supposed to be just a festive celebration for the people of Fodlan and Almyra, two nations once enemies, as they celebrated a declaration of friendship in Derdriu Palace.Byleth and Lysithea are once again reunited with their friends and what was thought to be a joyful occasion will reveal long bottled feelings of longing and frustration all because of what a goblet of wine can do.A sequel to Broken Hourglass.Warning: Smut with a plot!
Relationships: Cyril & Lysithea von Ordelia, Cyril/Lysithea von Ordelia, Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, My Unit | Byleth/Lysithea von Ordelia
Series: The Frivolous Romance Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769317
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	Fermented Flower

**Author's Note:**

> For your reference: Lyla was born on the 4th day of the Harpstring Moon in the Year 1186, Jeralt was born on the 13th day of the Guardian Moon in the Year 1191. Lyla's day of birth will play a role later on in the story.
> 
> There's a visual of how Lyla appears in the bottom.

**Garland Moon of the Imperial Year 1192**

“And with this, the Alliance between the Kingdoms of Fódlan and Almyra is now formalized.” Byleth declared after he and Claude, the respective monarchs of the two neighboring countries, signed the document to form an alliance of mutual defense as well as a declaration of lasting friendship between the two nations.

Byleth and Claude stood up from their respective chairs in the middle of the audience chamber of Derdriu Palace, around them were crowds of notable people consisting of the nobles from both nations and the representatives of the commoners in each territory in Fódlan.

Behind the kings were their respective wives and children, all standing tall. Lyla stood behind Lysithea tugging on her mother’s dress as Lysithea held her infant son in her arms. Hilda stood behind Claude holding hands with their son, Claudius, while her other free hand was patting her swollen belly.

Byleth and Claude approached each other and sealed their treaty with a handshake followed by pulling each other into a hug which the people around applauded with most cheering for the treaty of peace made between Fodlan and Almyra.

“To a future of mutual gain!” Byleth declared.

“And for the friendship between our people that would last in perpetuity!” Claude supported as both raised their right or left fist up much to the elation of the people who had witnessed history in the making.

Fódlan and Almyra had never gone into a proper diplomatic negotiation in the past, with the previous rulers of the warrior culture nation preferring to invade Fódlan than open up relations. While Fódlan had been rather isolated from the world beyond due to the tenets of Seiros preaching against opening foreign relations, something that Byleth and Claude discovered the truth about for the reasoning of such a tenet: it was Rhea-as-Seiros’ mandate due to her fear of the Agarthans resurfacing. It was because of the Agarthans and their war against the Goddess and her children that led to the devastation of the world and set about the chain of events that led to this point in time.

With the truth out and the Agarthans more or less obliterated with the defeat of Thales, the resurrected Nemesis, and the hunting of the remnants in the past few years, it was time for Fódlan to finally open its doors and what better than for Byleth and Claude to begin the new age between the two nations.

“Everyone, please proceed to the banquet hall in order for us to better celebrate this auspicious event.” Byleth instructed everyone in the audience chamber as the doors leading out of the huge room opened. One by one those in attendance filed out to continue the celebrations. Claude’s grin was ever present as he watched the people of Fódlan and Almyra (that he brought with him) walking side by side as they left the audience chamber, a sentiment that was shared by the other royals in the room.

“With this… we can begin to change the outlook of the people of Fódlan about the outside world.” Claude commented, hands on his waist.

“One step closer to your dreams then.” Byleth said, standing by Claude’s side as he watched the guests move out of the door, each guest passing before them giving them respectful short bows.

“You mean OUR dreams, Teach. Imagine the growth… the diversity… the acceptance of Fódlan’s people to others from different cultures… This is one of the changes Fódlan desperately needed and that of Almyra too.”

Hilda giggled. “Now now, dear… One thing at a time, you’re getting carried away and being preachy with this dream of yours again.” Hilda said with a teasing smile.

“I don’t know about my dreams, I only care about the future of Fódlan as a whole,” Byleth responded. “If you and Lysithea think this is the best way to move forward then I will put my faith in it.”

“Careful with your words, my love, people might think I’m using you as a political puppet.” Lysithea giggled before approaching her husband’s side, Byleth merely smiled at her. He felt proud for what his wife had helped him accomplish by writing about the treaty all by herself, he remembered apologizing to her for being clueless in writing formal treaties but Lysithea assured him that he’ll learn someday and that she’ll make sure of it.

“Well… most of the provisions in that treaty were all your doing, Lysithea…” Claude pointed out.

Lysithea passed Jeralt to her husband’s arms, who warmly received the infant boy before she turned and gave Claude a look.

“Because you were too lazy to elaborate on what you wrote in them so I had to work on it to be clear!” Lysithea responded sharply towards Claude who just chuckled.

Before any of them could speak further, Lyla let go of Lysithea’s dress and rushed off to a certain someone.

“Auntie Mari!” Lyla joyfully called out after she spotted Marianne along with the rest of the Golden Deer approaching them. Marianne gently caught Lyla as the latter ran up to her, both giggling in joy at their reunion. “I was behaving the entire time as mommy and daddy told me to! I did good right, Auntie Mari?”

The blue haired noblewoman nodded with a sweet smile towards her niece in all but blood. “Yes and I am very proud of you, Lyla. In no time, you’ll be growing into a fine princess,” Marianne remarked before Lyla pulled herself closer to Marianne’s face and started to nuzzle against her while hugging Marianne, eliciting joyful giggles from each other.

“I guess it’s easy to see who Lyla’s favorite is among the Year 1180 batch of the Golden Deer, besides her mother of course.” Hilda remarked, rubbing her pregnant stomach.

“Damn, I was expecting it was me to be honest.” Claude remarked.

“Not a chance,” Hilda shook her head. “You’ll end up bullying her like you did Lysithea back in the day.” Hilda cast a look on her husband before resuming her watch of Marianne and Lyla embracing each other so fondly.

“Hey! I don’t pick on kids!” Claude protested with fake outrage, Hilda rolled her eyes in response.

“You have a better time convincing an idiot with that, King Khalid,” the Almyran queen replied.

Claude looked taken aback and slightly frowned. “I told you not to call me that…”

“Oh I know. I just enjoy giving you a taste of your own medicine sometimes, my dear Khalid.” Hilda said with a devilish smirk. Claude could only sigh, not wanting to risk stressing his pregnant wife, especially with the mood swings that come with her current bodily state.

Raphael’s stomach growled. “Well, what are we all waiting for? Let’s eat! I’m starving!”

“Ugh Raphael, must you always ignore proper decorum when your stomach hungers endlessly for food?” Lorenz said in irritation. “I swear that’s something you haven’t learned all these years after the war.”

Leonie chuckled and lightly slapped Lorenz’ shoulder, earning a glare from the latter. “Ease up there Lorenz. The professor did tell us to drop all manner of formalities when we’re all gathered together.”

Lorenz turned to Byleth who gave him a small nod of confirmation.

“T-That is correct… but still…”

Ignatz laughed beside Raphael. “I’m still laughing at the fact that up until now, we’re still calling His Majesty as the professor.”

“And yet you can’t drop Her Majesty when it comes to me?” Lysithea playfully asked, cocking an eyebrow up in question to Ignatz. The bespectacled man nervously chuckled while fixing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

“Well… it’s just that you really exude that errm… queenly aura…”

Claude shrugged. “Old habits die hard, huh Teach?”

Byleth nodded with a small smile. “I honestly prefer it this way.”

“I’m getting really hungry here, dad.” Claudius said, tugging on to the sleeves of his father.

Hilda nodded in affirmation to her son’s words. “Same for me as well. You are aware I’m still eating for two here so enough with the chit-chat and let’s eat!”

* * *

“L-Lyla, maybe you should lessen the sweets…” Marianne told her “niece”, watching the young princess as she enjoyed a serving of custard pudding.

Lysithea, sitting beside Marianne who had Lyla on her lap, sighed at her daughter.

“Lyla, I told you to eat more slowly,” the queen of Fódlan softly scolded, not wanting to scare her daughter with her imposing side.

Leonie chuckled in amusement. “I never thought I’d see the day that Lysithea would actually tell someone to eat sweets slowly when she herself needed a shovel to eat them back in Garreg Mach.” The observation earned her a small chuckle from Byleth across the round table the Golden Deer were sitting at.

“I guess it’s just a sign that she has truly grown out of that behavior and mindset now that she is of royalty,” Lorenz nodded in approval, taking a small sip of red wine from his silver goblet.

“I told you to eat more slowly because you can’t savor the taste of the dessert by just swallowing it the moment it enters your mouth,” Lysithea explained, causing Lorenz to nearly spit his wine back into his goblet.

Hilda sneered at Lorenz. “So, what were you saying again?”

“I-It appears the queen only refined her outlook on eating desserts,” said Lorenz after properly wiping his mouth with the clean napkin on his side of the table.

Lyla’s eyes sparkled at her mother’s advice and nodded, taking another spoonful of her pudding and enthusiastically eating it, letting it mostly dissolve in an explosion of sweetness in her mouth to the point that she touched her cheek with her left hand, squealing in joy.

Lysithea smirked at her daughter before mirroring the same with her own pudding.

“They really are mother and daughter,” Claude commented with a grin. Byleth could only nod as he carried a sleeping Jeralt in his arms. “Makes me wonder how the little guy will be when he grows up…” 

Byleth shook his head in response. “Lysithea thinks the sweet tooth is inherent in her line so…”

Claude chuckled again, taking another sip of his wine as he looked around the banquet hall to see notable people dining or speaking with each other.

There was Holst, Balthus and Nader speaking and drinking with each other, preferring ale rather than the wine being served as their boisterous laughter disturbed the other guests near them. Judith soon joined them, bringing her own mug of ale much to the displeasure of some of the nobles.

A servant approached Byleth and began whispering a few words just as the Golden Deer were in the middle of a discussion about their (mis)adventures as a whole class back in Garreg Mach, mostly talking about that one time Claude was nearly killed by Lysithea after he pranked her at night.

Claude could hear what the servant was speaking and both he and Byleth looked behind them to see a number of familiar faces, which prompted everyone else to mimic the action as the latest in familiar faces arrived. As they approached, both pairs of monarchs stood from their seats to welcome their new guests.

* * *

“Greetings.” Seteth, the current archbishop of the Church of Sothis, greeted the two sets of monarchs as they arrived to welcome him and his entourage. “A fine evening for an auspicious event, your Majesties.” 

“Oh, I am so delighted to see all of you again!” Flayn spoke with clear joy and excitement, her hands together as if in prayer, unlike her ‘brother’, she did not bother to hide her elation of reuniting with her friends. “We sincerely apologize we could not be in attendance on your birthday, Queen Lysithea.”

Lysithea shook her head. “It’s fine, but you did miss seeing Claude and Hilda that day,” she said while looking at her friends of royal blood.

Seteth gave her a nod. “Yes, it is quite refreshing to see you both again,” he smiled at Claude before extending his hand forward to which Claude graciously accepted.

“How is the Church doing in my absence in Fódlan?” Claude jokingly asked, trying to relive his glory days of being one of the leaders of the coalition against the Adrestian Empire.

“It has been well. Reconstruction is finished, and the surrounding villages have all recovered from the war.” Seteth’s expression then turned solemn. “But the people’s faith in the Church… I cannot say it is what it once was.”

Claude sighed, feeling responsible for the current woes of the Church. “I guess Teach and I are to be blamed for that. We did decide to reveal the truth behind Rhea’s actions-”

“No,” Flayn interrupted. “I believe you conducted the right course of action. What Rhea was forced to do in the past is not suited in this new age we are living in. There is no need for such secrecy anymore…” As much as they disliked Edelgard, Flayn and Seteth can’t help but give credit to her impact on Fódlan in shaking the entrenched belief of its people on the Church and its teachings.

“Ah! Professor-- I mean, your Majesty!” Alois suddenly spoke out with his boisterous voice, arriving with a few people from Garreg Mach in tow.

Byleth and Lysithea turned their attention to Alois, who appeared relatively unchanged besides some strands of greying hair, the man that Byleth had soon come to accept as an (annoying) uncle, though Alois prefers to be regarded as an older brother.

“I have brought Alois with us to join-” Seteth proceeded with his introduction to the Captain of the Knights.

“And also to protect the Archbishop,” Alois proudly proclaimed. “How the devil are you? I’ve heard that-”

“Mommy, they have green hair like daddy!” Lyla suddenly pointed out, gripping on her mother’s dress and looking at Flayn and Seteth warily.

All eyes went on to Lyla, Flayn squealing with delight while bringing her hands up to her lips, Seteth raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Alois grinned at the sight of the young princess.

Lysithea gently ushered Lyla forward to present herself before the three new arrivals.

“Lyla, these are our guests. Archbishop Seteth with his sister, Flayn and that is Sir Alois-”

“I was your grandfather’s apprentice and right hand man back in the day!” Alois chimed in, looking elated to see the third generation Eisner child until he caught sight of Jeralt’s face as Lysithea held him, wrapped in a bundle of purple cloth.

“Oh my, you look delightful! The last time I have seen you was when you were just this little.” Flayn formed a shape with her hands.

Lyla kept staring at Alois, her eyebrows furrowed as she stared intently at Alois who was increasingly getting concerned at how she was looking at him, getting the impression she didn’t like him.

“He has a funny beard.”

Claude quickly burst into laughter, Byleth couldn’t hold in his chuckle, Flayn and Hilda giggled while Seteth averted his gaze from everyone, preventing himself from even showing a sign of mirth.

Lysithea looked appalled. “Lyla! That’s rude-”

“Ohoho, I don’t mind, your Majesty-” Alois laughed, finding humor in Lyla’s words. “She reminds me of how blunt you and his Majesty are in your own different ways!”

Lyla looked confused but nonetheless retreated back to her mother’s dress, warily eyeing the newly arrived guests.

Alois looked slightly dejected by her shyness. “She’s a shy one, isn’t she?”

“She’s just… wary of strangers at first.” Byleth informed. Alois then turned to look at the infant that Lysithea was carrying.

“And that must be Jeralt,” Speaking the baby’s name made him fondly remember his namesake. Jeralt opened his eyes to reveal the same brownish hue that his grandfather possessed, regarding Alois curiously.

The senior knight only smiled, his expression softening at the sight of the two children that his beloved mentor’s son has, the son that he had grown to care for outside of his relation with Jeralt. The son that he had truly considered somewhat of a brother or a son of his own in some way.

Alois briefly remembered the day of Byleth and Lysithea’s wedding, how he felt honored to stand in as Byleth’s father in the ceremony. He couldn’t keep his tears at bay as he watched Byleth exchange vows with Lysithea. He was happy that after those years of loss in the form of Jeralt and Sitri, Byleth had finally found someone he could spend an eternity with. He also cried tears of longing, constantly wishing Jeralt and Sitri were present at their son’s wedding.

Kneeling down on one knee, Alois reached into a satchel slung over his shoulder, taking out a rag doll that seemed to be homemade. It was made into a likeness of a child with the same shade of hair that Lyla possessed, wearing a simple white dress.

“I had my wife sew this for me to ready as a present for you…” explained Alois, reaching it out for Lyla to get. “It’s not much but I hope the princess will love it.”

Lyla curiously regarded the handmade rag doll, peering more and more closely to the toy as her parents observed her. Slowly, Lyla reached out and took it, checking it out from back to front before moving its limbs.

“It looks funny, but I like it!” Lyla said as she finally smiled at Alois.

“Now, what do you say when someone gifts you something?” Lysithea tested, raising an eyebrow in question if Lyla remembers the lessons she taught her.

“Thank you very much umm... “

“Call me Grandpa Alois, wait… I’m not that old yet...”said Alois, looking up at the ceiling and scratching his chin.“…Uncle Alois! That’s right!” Alois laughed.

Lyla giggled softly at the senior knight’s silliness.

“Thank you very much, grandpa-uncle!” she said with a grin. Her parents could only smile at their daughter’s reaction.

Alois flashed his own toothy grin. “I can live with that illustrious title! Say, want to hear a joke?”

Everyone except Lyla felt an immediate sense of dread on what was to be unleashed from Alois’ lips. Lyla nodded with a grin.

“What did the king say when he woke up to a stormy day?” Alois asked.

Lyla shook her head, letting Alois continue as she hugged her new doll to her chest.

“Looks like it’s another REIGNY day!” Alois finished his joke with a loud burst of laughter. When he ceased his laughter, Alois looked at everyone around him, all of whom had varying reactions:

Byleth sighed and held his face with the palm of his right hand. Lysithea could only give him a frown of disapproval, Flayn looked sad, Seteth was embarrassed while Claude and Hilda looked deadpan at the pun.

“Get it? Reigny as in rainy?” Alois asked everyone, but all he received were looks of exasperation.

“You’re terrible,” Lyla said with a deadpan tone.

Such words felt like daggers to Alois’ heart, and Lysithea didn’t even try to bother scolding her daughter’s harsh words towards Alois. So terrible of a pun that she felt that Alois deserved it.

Most disturbingly, the only one who reacted the way Alois intended was none other than Jeralt, who giggled all of a sudden, deeply concerning his parents.

After Alois withdrew, suffering the consequences of his crime of speaking his infamous puns, Claude decided to ask Seteth something, a question that he had long wanted to ask the archbishop.

“Seteth, has Cyril returned to Garreg Mach?” he asked in concern for the Almyran boy’s wellbeing. Hilda grumbled at the mention of Cyril, frowning in disapproval yet didn’t utter a word, still seething at the Almyran for his abandonment of them during the Almyran Civil War. Lysithea looked down on the floor, something Byleth noticed but didn’t remark on.

Seteth gave him a look before sighing and giving a nod. “Cyril? He has.”

“Is he well?”

“Ever since he returned from Almyra, we only see him once a year,” Seteth lamented, recalling the annual visits of the broken man to pay his respects to Rhea’s grave, who unknown to most except Seteth, Flayn and Catherine, was buried in Zanado after she had passed away from her grievous injuries from Thales’ last resort suicide attack in Shambhala.

Flayn also looked disheartened. “He seemed so… broken after Rhea had passed. I have heard of tidings from Shamir that they have been traveling together ever since his return from Almyra but only for a brief time.”

Claude looked disappointed at the news, hoping he could have at least heard that Cyril could have been somewhere and was taking care of himself despite the man’s initial abandonment of him and Hilda during the Almyran Civil War. He understood what he lost, a purpose in life, and Claude thought he could give him one.

Seteth placed a comforting hand on Claude’s shoulder. “As much as we try to reach out for him, we must also let him find his way back. Only he can return himself from the abyss he fell into.”

Claude sighed but nodded at Seteth’s advice.

“I had advised him prior that he must find some other form of happiness other than his purpose of paying a lifetime debt to Rhea. I was under the impression that he had indeed found one last time we spoke but I must have been mistaken.” Seteth lamented, putting his hand on his chin as if in deep thought.

Lysithea’s expression was a gloomy one, immediately realizing what Seteth was trying to guess. She was supposed to be the one who Cyril wanted to be with. While she knew she didn’t have any faults on the matter, she couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. It was puzzling for her. She knew that even if Cyril had managed to confess to her, she wouldn’t even accept it for she had always loved her husband ever since their days in the academy.

Unknown to her, Byleth kept notice of her downcast look, intending to ask her about it at a later time.

“Isn’t Cyril the bad guy who wanted to take mommy away from daddy?” Lyla asked all of a sudden, earning wide eyed stares at the insinuation of the princess.

“That is… the first I have heard of this,” Byleth said, frowning at the news.

Lysithea was shocked at what Lyla concluded. She knew that Lyla still remembers what she learned about Cyril during her birthday but to draw that line of conclusion…. She might just be thinking too much about it but it seemed like someone else told her something...

“Lyla, who told you that?”

Her daughter merely gave her mother a confused look. “Uncle Claude told me when I asked him more about-”

Lysithea immediately glared at Claude who was sweating.

“Claude! What sort of lies are you feeding to my daughter?!” she angrily demanded of him, alerting the people around them.

The King of Almyra held his arms forward defensively. “I-I can explain....!”

“You have five seconds to-”

“S-She was adamant in asking me despite telling her how complicated the situation between you two is so I had to cook up something simple for her to understand!” Claude said in a near panicked tone. Speaking the truth on the matter, Claude didn’t mean to vilify Cyril to Lyla but the fact remains that Lyla was way too young to understand the circumstances between her mother and Cyril. He figured that with time, Lyla would eventually understand life’s more complicated matters, but now wasn’t it.

By now, their guests started to murmur among each other on what the Queen of Fodlan and King of Almyra were arguing about now. Ever since their reunion on the Pegasus Moon, the meeting between the two seemed fated to end up with Lysithea shouting at Claude. Some worried over it, while others who knew them well just shrugged and carried on as Lysithea berated Claude. Byleth on the other hand showed Seteth and the members of the Church of Sothis to their table before he pulled his wife away from further throwing verbal punches at Claude.

* * *

“Your Majesty, a word?” Seteth requested Byleth as the king was about to return to the table he shared with his wife and former students.

The king’s expression was deadpan, reminding Seteth of his earlier days in Garreg Mach. Byleth knew by Seteth’s tone that he had something important to discuss with him.

Going off on a secluded corner in the banquet hall, Seteth leaned his back on the wall while Byleth stared at him, his green eyes hungering to know what Seteth would ask of him that was so important.

“What is this about?”

Seteth took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly before his own emerald green eyes met with Byleth’s own.

“It’s regarding your daughter, the princess,” Seteth said.

“Lyla?” Byleth asked, taken by surprise that the topic of this conversation of theirs was regarding his beloved daughter.

Seteth gave a brief nod. “I suspect that she has something inside her…”

“If you are thinking she possesses the same Crest that I bear then I will tell you that she doesn’t have it. She was born with no Crest, not even the ones Lysithea used to possess.” Byleth informed, denying the notion of his children ever acquiring any Crest. Both him and Lysithea thought that Lyla and Jeralt possessing no Crests was a boon and beneficial to the world they wanted to create in Fdlan, a world where Crest were simply nothing but old relics of the past that must not be valued as much as they used to.

Seteth shook his head. “I am not pertaining to your daughter possessing any Crest.”

“Then what is it?” Seteth was briefly silent. In his eyes Byleth could tell he wasn’t sure if he should tell him what he knew yet felt it was necessary.

“As a Nabatean,” Seteth explained, “We bear the ability to pick up a ‘scent’ of someone sharing the blood of the Goddess… our mother within their veins. Although you are a special case as Rhea and I only picked up the ‘scent’ in your blood when you bonded your soul with our mother.” Byleth gestured to him to continue, wanting to know what this has something to do with Lyla. “Your daughter… possesses that distinct ‘scent’. And while any form of power or Crest is yet to manifest, I would advise you to keep watch for any change.”

“You’re saying Lyla is…”

Seteth nodded. “I don’t know what this completely entails but I can theorize that you, a child of an artificial being created by Rhea to harbor Sothis’ soul, and someone who possesses the Crest of Seiros which lead you to become the vessel that Rhea had hoped for… add the fact that you and her have bonded your souls together… This could have caused a unique phenomenon with you.”

“This being…?”

“For all intents and purposes, you have become Sothis herself. You possessed her divine essence and while the powers that she once possessed are yet to manifest within you, it will only be a matter of time before they awaken,” Seteth explained as Byleth listened on and briefly lost himself to his thoughts on Lyla. “And such divine essence in your veins has the possibility to be passed on to your children and your children’s children… similar to how Sothis herself birthed us with her own blood.”

Byleth narrowed his eyes. “Are you talking about Lyla being somewhat similar to the Nabateans? Because if I am Sothis then my children would be…”

“It is a big possibility, but what bothers me is that your son does not have that distinct ‘scent’ I found in your daughter.” Seteth added. “This is also another theory I have in mind but I believe that during your daughter’s…” Seteth coughed as his cheeks briefly flushed red. “... Creation… she may have been ‘touched’ by the Goddess in a spiritual sense. Whatever the case may be, your daughter possesses something that no ordinary human being can.”

When Seteth looked at Byleth, the latter seemed disturbed. His expression bore something that Seteth felt that he can truly relate with. He was concerned about what may happen to Lyla should people find out about this matter, and while they weren’t sure, what if it were true? Seteth could understand how Byleth, a father, would feel for his daughter’s safety.

“Daddy!” Lyla called out, approaching her father and the archbishop after finding them on a secluded corner of the banquet hall. Byleth and Seteth turned to the young princess staring at her father.

“Yes, Lyla?” Byleth asked, making a small smile to greet his daughter, the subject of his worry just now.

“Mommy said to come fetch you before you get involved in more politic thingies.”

Byleth raised an eyebrow before looking in the distance to see Lysithea gesturing him to come back to their table and enjoy their celebration, her expression bearing some sort of annoyance at him. Byleth could only chuckle nervously at the look his wife was giving him. He could have sworn Claude was making gestures of whipping beside Lysithea until Hilda flicked her finger on his ear, earning a yelp from him.

“You are mistaken, princess. I am merely enjoying a fine conversation with your father as friends would,” Seteth assured her with a small smile but Lyla only kept staring at him with a deadpan look. There was a brief moment of silence from the archbishop before he asked her something.

“Is there something on my face?” Seteth asked, his eyebrows furrowed at the way the princess was staring so intensely at him.

“...Do you always look so scary?” Lyla bluntly asked.

The question took Byleth and Seteth by surprise with the latter unable to form any words initially.

“I beg your pardon?” Seteth asked, still looking at Lyla wide-eyed.

“You’re always frowning.” Lyla pointed out.

“And your father is not?”

“Daddy always smiles at me!” Lyla responded gleefully while looking at her father proudly. Byleth could only pat his daughter’s head.

Seteth looked at Lyla then towards Byleth and then Lysithea from afar. He softly scoffed at piecing a few puzzle pieces together.

“Has someone ever told you how sharp her tongue is?”

Byleth chuckled before picking up Lyla in his arms and began to walk away from the archbishop.

“Many times,” he responded as he took his leave with his daughter.

“Hurry daddy! I still have more sweets to eat!” Lyla urged her father, earning a small but joyful laughter from him.

“Is that the only reason why you agreed to come fetch me?” Byleth playfully asked.

“Uh-huh! Mommy told me my ice cream would melt if I didn’t bring you back!” Lyla bluntly replied, confirming Seteth’s question to Byleth once more.

Seteth watched the two depart, recalling a memory so far into the past that he cannot hope to revisit once again. For a brief moment, he remembered how he used to carry Flayn in such a way… how clingy and happy she was with him during her younger days. Seteth could only silently wish the two well to a future without the constant fear that he once had. He returned to rejoin Alois and Flayn at their table, the two enjoying their meal of fish dishes.

* * *

“Whoah, the little prince checked out fast huh?” Balthus playfully chuckled, carrying Claudius in his arms who fell asleep leaning on his father’s shoulder until Claude asked Balthus to carry him to one of the guest rooms in Derdriu Palace.

Claude gave his son’s hair one last ruffle while Hilda gave him a soft peck to his cheek as the boy slept before giving Balthus a nod to go ahead. Shortly after, Claude and Hilda went back to the table they shared with their friends.

Lyla yawned as she sat on Marianne’s lap. She could feel the drowsiness already as the night went on yet she persisted to stay awake, wanting to savor her time with her beloved Auntie Mari. Jeralt on the other hand was being cradled by Leonie as she and Marianne conversed.

“Still Lysithea, I just realized how ironic your situation is right now,” Hilda commented, earning a questioning look from the Queen of Fódlan.

“What makes you say so?” Lysithea asked, setting down the glass of water in her hands.

“I remembered you confiding with me back then that you had no plans to rule after Count Ordelia, intending to pass it on to someone else more capable.” Hilda said, recalling their talk together before the assault on Enbarr.

“You actually did pass the rulership of Ordelia territory to Constance yet in the end you became the Queen of all Fódlan.” Hilda added, giggling. “Isn’t it ironic that you intended to stay out of politics but ended up getting more into it later on?”

“Isn’t it ironic for you either?” Lysithea retorted, earning a casual shrug from her Almyran counterpart. “You didn’t want to do work, yet you ended up as Almyra’s queen.”

Claude grinned, reinforcing his wife’s words. “I remember the line from that one philosopher saying… the best ruler might be someone who doesn't want to rule nor had the intention to do so.”

Byleth looked taken aback from his friend’s statement, reflecting back on his past as an emotionless mercenary-turned-professor-turned-archbishop who led an army to defy an empire which subsequently led to his current situation as a king of a united continent, a fate he did not expect. Now with his conversation with Seteth earlier, the notion of taking over Sothis’ mantle was something too surreal for him to even consider but then again his life has never been exactly ‘normal’.

Lorenz shook his head in disapproval. “That way of thinking is foolish and outdated. So many have no ambition to rule and most of those are simply lazy individuals who rely on others to function in society. Are those words you quoted from that one philosopher applicable to them?”

The King of Almyra maintained his grin. “Actually there is a continuation of that line.” He told Lorenz before glancing at Byleth and Lysithea. “He noted that only those with a strong heart and resolve are those best suited regardless of their nonexistent desire to rule.”

Ignatz nodded in agreement. “I do believe the professor and Lysithea fit such words.”

“They made Fódlan better after the war!” Raphael cheerfully piped in. “I dunno much on politics, but that sure is impressive!”

Byleth chuckled beside his wife but when he glanced at her, Lysithea looked pensive.

“Well from how I see it,” Leonie chimed in, “The professor is the one who leads and inspires people while Lysithea is the brains behind it. It’s a perfect combination.”

Lorenz however was a bit doubtful. “If Lysithea is doing all the work with the technical matters then by all accounts, she is the supreme ruler of Fódlan. His Majesty would only end up looking like a puppet by the people who are unaware of their dynamic. Such a thing worries me so.”

Byleth flinched, looking down with disappointment upon himself. He had indeed been learning under Lysithea’s guidance and example during their time together in and out of their duties to the point that they barely have time to have some form of relaxation. The negotiation and the creation of the treaty by Lysithea’s hand further decreased what time they had for each other in addition to caring for their children.

Lysithea, on the other hand remained quiet, her eyes looking tired which had not escaped Claude and Hilda’s notice.

Claude coughed. “Anyway, enough politics-”

“You kind of started it, Claude,” Leonie sweatdropped.

Claude ignored her, taking his wine goblet and opening a new bottle from the middle of the table and filling it, passing it to Byleth who proceeded to pass it to his former students barring Lysithea and Hilda.

“Well, I can’t drink any wine or any alcohol for that matter while I’m pregnant so…” Hilda reasoned with a shrug, filling her glass with water instead.

Lysithea mimicked the same action, drinking water instead.

“So Queen Lysie…”

The Queen of Fódlan glared at Claude for even daring to call her as such by the nickname Dorothea had christened her with during their time in the academy. Lorenz sighed at another provoking tease from Claude towards Lysithea once more, but made no move to berate him, learning that it was meaningless as his opinions were void on the matter.

“Claude, can you please zip it for tonight? I’m not in the mood to listen to your childish, unamusing jests right now.” Lysithea tiredly requested, her voice void of the fire she once had earlier. Even Byleth picked up that something was wrong with her by how she sounded compared to earlier, she seemed so… stressed out.

“Almost six years now since we beat Nemesis back to his grave and yet you still don’t drink wine?” Claude quizzically asked.

“Claude, I’m still feeding Jeralt. Even if I wanted to drink, you can’t expect me to do that right now.” Lysithea sighed in clear exasperation.

Even Hilda nodded to that, frowning at her husband yet Claude retained his calm composure.

“So what if you can’t personally feed him?” Claude reasoned. “You can always use those milk formulas that Anna had been selling like hot pancakes in a Fodlan morning.”

“And why would I do that if it’s just for the sake of drinking something I haven’t tasted in my life?” Lysithea responded, folding her arms under her chest. “I’m not a thrill seeker, Claude.”

Byleth and Lyla worriedly look at Lysithea, with Byleth placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Claude, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here...” Byleth tried to interject between the brewing conversation between his wife and friend.

Claude remained undeterred. “I’m just trying to make a point that it makes you appear more mature and fitting to your station if you at least drink. I don’t think I’ve heard of a king or queen who doesn’t drink alcohol throughout Fódlan’s history. It’s basically a customary part of being from nobility or royalty.” 

Lysithea shook her head dismissively and tried to ignore him, preventing herself from making any form of eye contact with Claude as she drank from her glass of water. She just wasn’t in the mood to argue anymore, especially with Claud. She had been exhausted from the past few days, even weeks of hard work to both the kingdom and her children, not to mention she was teaching her husband regarding politics. She wanted to relax and get some well deserved rest after tonight, but Claude was really pushing her patience so far. If only there was a way to shut him up that did not involve her impaling him with many spikes made of dark magic.

“Well, I guess that’s that. Somebody get Queen Lysie some grape juice please.” Claude chuckled in amusement at his own jest while Byleth and company looked quite the opposite.

Lysithea could have sworn she heard something snap inside her. Heaving a heavy sigh, she looked at her husband who was about to raise his wine goblet up to his lips to take a sip and snatched it without a word.

“Lysithea, wait-” Byleth called out, attempting to take back his wine goblet from Lysithea.

Without any form of hesitation despite smelling the repulsive fermented grape juice inside her husband’s wine goblet, she downed all of its contents in one gulp, some of the wine flowing out from the corners of her lips.

Everyone in the shared table stared at her wide-eyed at what Lysithea just did, who let out a tired and pained sigh from drinking the substance. She set down the empty goblet as she breathed heavily from what she just did.

“I… did not… expect that,” Claude muttered, at a loss for words at what he had just seen.

“Then what did you expect?!” Lysithea asked with clear irritation in her pinkish red eyes.

“I was just expecting a sip and a repulsive reaction… not… what you just did.” Claude replied, slowly regaining his composure as the rest were still sitting in shock.

Lysithea however was still trying to come to terms with what she just drank, her face contorting to disgust at the foreign taste.

“It tasted awful, but that should prove I can drink alcohol just like the rest of you!” Lysithea proudly declared, pointing at Claude accusingly.

It was there and then that Claude internally smirked like he had won a major battle.

“I don't know…” Claude mused, “It didn't seem like that was a lot... it looked mostly empty to begin with…” 

Hilda nudged him. “Claude, what are you doing?”

Lysithea frowned, cheeks increasingly reddening as time passed. She quickly took the bottle of wine on the center and filled the goblet to the brim.

“Y-You really shouldn’t fill it up to the brim…” Ignatz cautioned but to no avail.

“Lysithea, if you're going to do that take it slow-” Byleth froze when Lysithea gave him a glare. There were only a few things that made Byleth quiver in fear, and Lysithea’s seething glare is what terrifies him most. Yet he noticed that there wasn’t just an alcohol-induced temper that was in her eyes. There was some form of resentment in them with the way she glared at him.

It didn’t take Lysithea long to drink halfway through the goblet before her body began to sway in all directions. Her head felt extremely light and her movements began to be uncoordinated with what her mind was telling her body to do. Her vision had become increasingly disoriented and she mostly leaned her head on Byleth’s shoulder.

Byleth tenderly touched Lysithea’s face, checking up on her, worried on how to handle this unknown state of mind that his wife had walked herself into. He had never seen nor heard of her being drunk and despite witnessing Alois, Jeralt, and Manuela in their drunken states due to their alcoholism, he was unsure how a first timer like Lysithea would fare.

“Are you alright?” Byleth asked with concern.

Lysithea glanced up at him and her lips smiled rather widely with half-closed eyes.

“You’re so handshome…” she said, her speech slurred and murmuring gibberish that only her mind could comprehend.

“L-Lysithea?” Byleth flushed red seeing his wife’s drunken face, the way she was smiling at him with those sheepish eyes of hers, a contrast to the eyes she normally had that exudes her strong strength of will and resolve.

Lysithea giggled rather cutely as she clung on to Byleth’s arm, nuzzling her cheek on his chest.

“My hushband is always sho warm...” she murmured before looking up at Byleth and planted a wet kiss on his cheek much to Byleth’s surprise and Lyla’s elation, the girl having grown fond of seeing her parents act so sweetly to each other.

Byleth was surprised by how drastically she had changed in the way she acted to the point of brazenly kissing him in public when she herself didn’t like to show displays of affection in public, deeming it embarrassing.

“Woah, I’ve never seen Lysithea this…” Leonie tried to put the description to words. “... clingy.”

“I think what you mean is affectionate,” Lorenz murmured in total disbelief that the usual composed and straightforward girl he once knew was all but gone.

Lysithea then caught sight of her daughter.

“Come here, Lylaaaaa,” she ordered her daughter, gesturing to her to make haste towards her. Despite initially feeling sleepy, Lyla hopped off of Marianne’s lap to come to her mother.

Withdrawing from Byleth, Lysithea picked up her daughter and made her sit on her lap.

“Awww you’re so cute… I’m sorry if mommy is always scolding you most of the time…” Lysithea gleefully said as she rubbed her cheeks with Lyla who giggled at her mother’s strange but welcome behavior.

“Mommy that tickles!” Lyla giggled in sheer joy as Lysithea planted multiple kisses on her cheek.

“You don’t want mommy doing this?”

“I love it when mommy is so kissy kissy! Especially with daddy! Mommy’s reactions when daddy is kissy kissy is so cute!” Lyla enthusiastically responded.

“Lylaaaaa! That’s a secret!” Lysithea giggled uncontrollably, showing no shame on one of her secrets being spilled.

Byleth blushed deep red and turned to his former students who bore varying looks from teasing and curiosity.

“So Teach… you’re the type to not kiss and tell eh…?” Claude smirked.

“Lysithea is hard to imagine being the kissy type, but you?” Hilda added as she laughed. “I never would have thought. Your wedding day kiss with her was so boring to watch! I was expecting some more passion! Especially since you spent months after reuniting having goo-goo eyes on each other!” Hilda added as she laughed.

Leonie smirked. “This is kind of refreshing, seeing you look so embarrassed.” The mercenary said in amusement while still cradling a sleeping Jeralt in her arms.

“I don’t see why people have to be so embarrassed when they kiss the people they love,” Raphael said with a puzzled look. “I mean Ignatz and Maya are always doing it whenever they get the chance.”

“R-RAPHAEL!” Ignatz exclaimed out, blushing deep red at the mention of his displays of affection with his own wife.

Lorenz sighed. “This is hardly befitting what is to be expected from royalty,” he said, massaging the temples of his head.

Marianne kept quiet, having witnessed the said displays of affection Byleth and Lysithea had been doing when they weren’t in public. It would seem she and Lyla were the only ones the royal couple were confident in being their witnesses to their displays of affection to each other.

After cuddling Lyla and bringing each other closer to Byleth, collectively rubbing their cheeks together with Byleth’s, much to the king’s flustered reaction.

“My precious family….” Lysithea lovingly said in her drunken stupor, planting more kisses on Lyla and Byleth’s cheeks before letting go of her daughter, ushering her to return to her dear Auntie Mari.

Lysithea then leaned her head to Byleth’s shoulder, making herself comfy in his warmth, affectionately nuzzling her head, her left hand bearing her wedding ring on Byleth’s chest.

“I’m so blessed and lucky...” Lysithea said with a sigh of contentment before her hand on Byleth’s chest began to sensually rub it, using her pointing finger to twirl around his chest as she made her hot breath tickle his neck.

Seeing his former students blushing at the rather drunken and shameless display his wife was showing as well as Lyla witnessing all of it, Byleth figured it was time to put a stop to Lysithea’s alcohol-influenced actions.

“Okay, you had enough,” Byleth tried to calmly say, Lysithea’s touches made him nearly stutter and the hot breaths on his neck made him tingle all over.

He gently pushed her away from him, but after doing so, what he saw in Lysithea’s eyes nearly crushed him.

Stung by his rejection of her flirtations, the sheepish pinkish red eyes of Lysithea glistened with tears threatening to flow down from her eyes. She bit her lip as her body trembled, and Byleth could only stare wide-eyed at her. He had never seen her like this until almost six years ago when she tearfully confessed to him the night before the battle against Nemesis. She had to come to tell him her feelings, thinking that the battle against the revenant King of Liberation can potentially be their last as well as the fact that even if they win, she was fated to pass away with what remained of her life. Much to her bittersweet joy, Byleth responded to her confession and in that night within the classroom they had once frequent as teacher and student began their relationship as a man and woman, the night that resulted in the conception of their daughter.

“I knew it… you’re tired of me already…” Lysithea said, hiccuping from either the alcohol or from holding back her tears.

“L-Lysithea, that’s not-”

“Y-You haven’t touched me ever since J-Jeralt was b-born…” Lysithea sniffled, desperately holding back her tears.

Claude spat out the wine he just drank to the unfortunate Lorenz right across the opposite side of the table, staining the noble with the saliva-infused wine.

“ACCKKK! CLAUDE!” Lorenz yelled out in sheer disgust as Claude barely contained his laughter while he was coughing.

Tears fell from the Fódlan Queen’s eyes. “You don’t think I’m beautiful anymore… do you?”

“That’s not t-true! You’re always going to b-”

“You stuttered! That means you’re not even being honest with your answer!” Lysithea shouted as she began sobbing.

Byleth looked taken aback and glanced at his friends until his eyes fell upon his daughter who glared at him with disapproval.

“You’re bad for making mommy cry, daddy!” she pointed out accusingly, feeling a strong sense of indignation towards her father. The accusation and the look Lyla gave him stung Byleth’s unbeating heart as he began to sweat from what was suddenly happening. The fact that the people around them were taking notice of the Fódlan Queen’s drunken episode just made it worse.

“Lysithea, you’re making a scene-”

“And you’re also ashamed of me!” Lysithea interrupted him as tears rapidly fell from her eyes. “You don’t love me anymore!”

Lyla jumped up from Marianne’s lap and glared up at her father.

“Daddy doesn’t love mommy anymore?!”

Byleth felt being stung by his daughter’s glare at him. “What? No! It’s not like that-”

“You're making mommy cry when you promised you wouldn’t!” Lyla pointed out one of the promises her father spoke to her one day.

Byleth turned to the Golden Deer, his green eyes begging them for aid in this time of crisis he was having. All of them looked away from him, even Marianne, while Claude snickered and was on the verge of laughing until Hilda elbowed him to the ribs.

Clenching his fists tightly and gritting his teeth, Byleth knew the only viable strategy right now was to… retreat.

He lifted Lysithea and carried her bridal style as the queen resisted him to no avail due to her husband’s strength.

“Let me go! I hate you!” Lysithea screamed at Byleth in her drunken emotional stupor.

Without a word, Byleth rushed out of the banquet hall with Lysithea in his arms, making haste to their chambers in order to calm Lysithea down and talk to her.

“If mommy is still crying tomorrow! I will hate you forever and ever, daddy!” Lyla shouted out as she watched her father go off with her mother as the guests in the party were left wondering what in the world had just happened between the king and queen of Fódlan.

Marianne got out of her seat and placed her hands comfortingly at the princess’ shoulders.

“Don’t worry Lyla, they’ll sort it out,” Marianne assured her. Lyla looked up at her with concern.

“But I don’t want to see mommy cry… Mommy is always so strong…” Lyla sadly said, her thoughts on the strong and proud image that Lysithea had constantly conveyed all the time seemed like a far cry to what she had just witnessed.

Marianne smiled at her, kneeling down on her knees to match the level of her head to her “niece”.

“I know… your mommy is just not feeling well. That’s why she was saying those things.”

Lyla looked down on the floor. “Is it true daddy doesn’t love her anymore?”

Marianne’s eyes widened at the thought. “Goddess, of course not. Your daddy will always love your mommy, just as she will him.” Lyla didn’t respond and just looked down on the floor. “Trust in your daddy. They’ll be fine tomorrow.” Marianne assured her, making Lyla look up at her and smiled reassuringly.

After a brief moment, Lyla looked convinced and nodded at Marianne prompting the Edmund noblewoman to pick her up.

“Now come, let me tuck you and Jeralt to sleep,” Marianne said in a nurturing tone, she then looked at Leonie, her eyes telling her to help her bring the royal children to their quarters to sleep.

As Marianne and Leonie departed to bring Lyla and Jeralt to their room, the remaining members of the Golden Deer all looked at Claude with a sharp accusing look for the chaos he had created.

* * *

Byleth rushed to open his door with his left hand as he kept Lysithea at bay who was flailing her arms to hit him, managing to succeed in landing a few uncoordinated slaps to his face. Opening the door and pulling Lysithea in their room, he immediately closed it just as Lysithea was able to break free from his hold and swiftly delivered another slap across his face. Byleth ignored the pain, but was aghast at her. That was the first time Lysithea had ever slapped him in their years knowing each other, he could feel both his heart and face stinging from what his wife just did in her drunken state.

“I HATE YOU!” Lysithea screamed at him, her voice nearly breaking from the loud guttural cry. Lysithea then looked around her until she saw a silver candlestick on the nightstand near the bed. She tried to go towards it only for Byleth to wrap his arms around her in an effort to stop and hug her, trying to calm her.

“Lysithea, you’re not thinking well,” Byleth told her as Lysithea desperately tried to squirm her way out of his hold.

“It’s all clear to me now!” Lysithea shouted as more tears fell from her eyes, the alcohol’s hold in to her still keeping her reasoning at ransom. Lysithea managed to make Byleth loosen his hold on her, prompting his wife to turn around to strike him again only this time Byleth caught it effortlessly with his hand.

“I knew it! I'm just a political tool for you to use right now! You only needed me to write your laws and do most of the politics for you while you sit comfy on your throne! I’m always doing all the hard work! I work day and night to make sure YOUR kingdom is well taken care of!” 

Lysithea ranted on as she began to release every pent-up frustration she had been carrying within herself. “Then after that, you make me raise our children to make them your capable heirs! You try to learn from me so someday you’ll be able to cast me aside and find another woman because you don’t want me anymore!”

Byleth looked pained and disturbed at Lysithea’s words, but managed to keep himself together as Lysithea attempted to strike him again with her free hand only to be caught by Byleth’s other remaining hand.

“Lysithea, listen to me-”

“You’ve fucked me enough that I’m already used goods in your eyes!” Lysithea continued her unreasonable rant against him.

Having enough of Lysithea’s shouting and false accusations to him borne from her drunken state, Byleth sighed.

“Lysithea, listen to me!”

“No! I won’t!” Lysithea shook her head. “I do everything! Sign the papers, write the treaties, put the laws out! Be your adviser! On top of that I have to tutor you and Lyla while caring for Jeralt!”

Lysithea emphasized her frustrations once more until she finally broke down and cried, her body going limp with Byleth catching her as she cried on his chest. All of a sudden she felt ashamed of her recent actions towards her husband. It seemed like the alcohol’s effect had dwindled to the point that some of her reasoning had returned yet her emotional side was still prevailing over it.

“Lysithea… are you calm now? Can we talk properly?” Byleth gently asked her, looking at his wife with the utmost concern for her wellbeing and state of mind.

“I’m sorry… It’s just been so hard for me these past few months,” Lysithea confessed as she let her tears soak her husband’s robe. “I’ve been working day and night for our people, I have to help Lyla with her studies, teach you about politics and in between those, I have to care for Jeralt because he needs me.”

Byleth closed his eyes, patting Lysithea’s back as she began to simmer down and just cry.

 _‘So that’s why she looked so exhausted earlier and these past few days.’_ Byleth had been so occupied with the duties that he could handle well enough alone that he had unwittingly neglected his wife, how she felt and what she was going through.

Lysithea sniffled. “I can’t even spend quality time with my own husband. You can’t even do so much as touch me when we’re alone.... So I thought… am I unattractive to you now?”

“No, that’s not true.” Byleth softly told her.

“I know I sound like I’m being so petty right now but I can’t help it! I am your wife, your woman, yet I feel more like your helper than anything these days,” Lysithea lamented, her hands gripping tightly on his robes that she managed to pinch Byleth’s skin underneath his clothes making him wince in pain.

“If my role is only to produce your heirs and just be some kind of glorified helper then I don’t want this! I rather went through my original plan to just go off and disappear somewhere after the war ended!” Lysithea exclaimed.

Byleth’s eyes shot open and he suddenly placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away, though they never left their tight grip on her shoulders.

“Don’t say such things! It’s nothing like what you say!” Byleth told her with a raised voice, his eyes piercing straight into hers. 

For some reason he felt some kind of rage at the recent things Lysithea spoke to him. It made him angry that Lysithea would think so lowly of herself and implied she would rather have succumbed to the effects of her twin Crests rather than live a long full life, one that she happily declared would be theirs when he proposed to her. A life she had many times spoken to him that she was blessed to have with him, a life which one of it’s proof is that of the existence of their beloved children, the ones she had always considered as living proof of the miracle that happened to her. Byleth hated hearing her speak such things opposite of those. It made everything he had done for her all for nothing.

Despite Byleth’s denial, Lysithea’s eyes were still filled with sadness. She looked away from him, unable to do so.

“But it’s true.... or at least that’s what I have been feeling these past few days. Y-You haven’t touched or look at me that way anymore when we’re alone. We don’t bathe together... it always has been just to wake up, eat, work and sleep for us these past few months…” Lysithea lamented, wiping off any of the still flowing tears from her eyes.

Byleth deeply sighed at her wife’s words although he could understand that some of her grievances were justified mostly due to how busy they had been lately. Yet that was only a convenient excuse for Byleth to use to absolve himself of any guilt on his wife’s grievances.

“I didn’t want to do those because…”

“Because you don’t want me anymore?”

“No, it’s because I know how tired you have been because of our work as the rulers of Fódlan. It’s not that I don’t want to make love with you, I’m just concerned that your body might break down if we ever had… sex…” Byleth trailed off, his eyes slightly flushed red.

Lysithea blinked at him. “.... Really?”

Byleth bit his lip, nodding as his blush intensified because of what he was about to say next.

“I… often think of you when I bathe…I try hard not to initiate anything because I don’t want to tire you out even more.” He then let go of Lysithea’s shoulders and gently touched the sides of her face. “You’ve been such a good wife to me and a great mother to Lyla and Jeralt... and I know we’ve been relying too much on you after your birthday and I wish we could have done more to at least help you.” Byleth lamented as Lysithea’s eyes softened at his words, her tears slowly ceasing.

“You’re not disgusted with me? Tired of me?”

“I had thought you were the one feeling tired of me because of how much pressure I’ve put you in.”

Lysithea swallowed the lump in her throat. “There’s no other woman?”

Byleth’s eyes widened incredulously at her question.

“OF COURSE NOT!” he exclaimed out with a bewildered look. “Why would I want another when I have the most beautiful woman in front of me in Fódlan?! One that has the smile of a hundred suns!” Byleth declared, mimicking the way his father described Sitri in his diary, a trait he had come to pick up and apply, which embarrassed Lysithea whenever he spoke of such metaphors.

The way Byleth spoke passionately of such words and how it was worded managed to make Lysithea giggle at him.

“T-That’s a bit too overblown but... it's sweet....” Lysithea said, her cheeks blushing red as she looked down on his chest. Hearing her husband’s corny but passionate declaration seemed to begin healing the pain in her heart.

Byleth’s blush turned even redder at what he had just said and Lysithea’s reaction to it but nonetheless moved in further to seal the deal in calming down his drunken wife.

“Lysithea... If you ever need something from me, no matter how small it is, tell me. I’ll do what I can to give it to you. You know I live for you now… I need you and most importantly, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t want you in my life so please… believe me when I say that you are important to me.”

Byleth then cupped his wife’s chin and made her look at him, and they were instantly lost in each other’s eyes the moment they met.

“I may be the king of Fódlan and I serve its people, but first and foremost, I am your husband. My beloved wife’s needs are just as important.” Byleth declared, giving her his warmest and loving smile yet.

Lysithea blushed at Byleth’s words, and coupled with the effects of the alcohol made her tear up again which prompted Byleth to think of something to ease her pain, assuming he might have not done or said enough to reassure her.

Lysithea enthusiastically lunged at him, hurling herself towards him as they both fell to their bed with Lysithea on top.

“Oh I love you so much! I don’t deserve you!” Lysithea said as she began to kiss his lips.

Byleth was taken aback by the subtle scent and taste of wine that mixed with the salty taste of tears in Lysithea’s lips but nonetheless kissed her back with the same amount of passion Lysithea was conveying with her kisses. It did not take long before he could taste the sweet flavors of pastries and ice cream mixed in with the salt of her tears, and the bitterness of the wine, a rather perplexing combination that he strangely wanted more of.

Soon their kisses of passion began to give way to lust, their breaths becoming as hot as their bodies. Lysithea brought her hands up to cup her husband’s face as their kissing became more intense. Her tongue darted into Byleth’s mouth, landing on his own and cueing him to match her efforts by swirling his with hers, tasting even more of the unusual combination as her saliva trickled down his throat. 

Lysithea let out hushed moans as their tongues danced in his mouth. Those moans became breathy pants as they shifted to the gap between them, their tongues not missing a beat as drool starting to dribble onto Byleth’s neck. She could feel her heart racing as she excitedly made out with her husband, weeks of stress and sexual frustration having come to a tipping point and she was not wanting to let this opportunity go to waste. She needed this; she needed him, and judging from the growing bulge pressing up against her further down, it was clear that he needed her too.

Byleth placed his hands on her shoulders, but rather than bring her in closer, he eased her back up a little, giving them both a moment to catch their breaths. Both lovers stared into each other’s eyes as they gasped for air, hers filled with passion while his with exhaustion.

“What about…” Byleth muttered in-between breaths, “Our guests? We have to…”

“What was that about being MY husband first and foremost?” Lysithea pouted as she started to unfasten the buttons in his clothes, though in her current state she more fumbled with them. Realizing that wasn’t working, she opted instead to tug the collar of his shirt down enough to get access to what she was after.

Byleth hissed as he felt her wet lips upon his bare neck, his eyes closing and his legs tensing at the sensation. It had been far too long since the last time his wife had done this to him, and with how little he had been touched anywhere throughout most of his life, something like this made him realize how sensitive he was. Unlike before though, Lysithea was putting far more effort than usual as what would have normally been damp pecks were instead full-blown kisses, and he even felt the tip of her tongue grace his skin. It was enough to begin blurring his mind as she made her way down; Lysithea certainly knew his weak points by now and she was not letting him go.

“It…” he barely managed to whisper as his arousal began overtaking the rational part of his mind, “Would be rude…”

“They’ll understand…” she said in a low, sultry voice as she looked up at him and noticed how restrained his face looked. She had been wet ever since their intense make-out session, her dampening smallclothes starting to feel slightly uncomfortable, and seeing how much he was becoming putty in her hands only spurred her on. Satisfied, she rubbed her hands sensually across his clothed chest to further weaken his resolve as she made her way lower to her prize until her eyes were directly above his cock.

“At least this part of you is honest,” she playfully scolded. His pants, unlike his shirt, were much easier to deal with as she pulled them down enough for his cock to spring free from its prison. It twitched as it tasted open air and Lysithea couldn’t help but marvel at it. Having not seen it for weeks now, she had almost forgotten how large it was. And it was all hers; he practically said so himself.

Then an idea struck her still drunken-addled mind and she smiled seductively at his manhood. She grasped his shaft with one hand while placing her other on his inner thigh, rubbing it while stroking his cock at the same time. Byleth grunted at the feeling of her soft hands teasing him, pressing his fingers into the sheets as Lysithea jerked him off. She was not being too gentle about it, but not too rough either, and it left him confused and anxious.

He began fidgeting in place as she stroked him a little faster. It was all part of what she was planning to do, something she never tried before, thinking it to be too dirty for her. But in her state, coupled with weeks of sexual frustration, she was not going to restrain herself any longer. The mere thought of what she was about to do only made her skin tingle as heat rushed through her, and her juices began trickling down her thighs.

“L-Lys…” he forced out, and hearing him strain to say his nickname for her only encouraged her more. “Th-that feels gre- hah!” His eyes burst open as he felt her soaked tongue on the head of his cock and licking it as though it were a lollipop. His breathing relaxed some, and his mind blanked as his queen serviced him. Whatever feeble resistance he had left in him melted away as he felt the foreign object on his most sensitive part.

Warmth coursed through his body as he lay there trying to process the pleasure he was experiencing. It was incredible how her hot, wet tongue lapped and swirled around the crown of his cock, so different than being inside of her. He stared up at the ceiling, mouth hung open in a silent gasp as Lysithea continued her taste-testing of his cock. There was seemingly no method to her ministrations, but then this was uncharted territory for the two of them and he didn’t have a frame of reference to compare it to. However her skill mattered little to him right now, instead focusing more on the heat from her mouth flowing up and down his body. So he simply let her do what she wanted to him. He could worry about improving it later, assuming she wanted to after tonight.

Lysithea squeezed his shaft with just enough force to elicit another strangled gasp from the king before putting her tongue back to work. Though the purpose was to pleasure and excite him, there was a hint of malice to it as a means to punish him for leaving her wanting these past several weeks. Her work on the treaty and everything else happening in recent months would have been far more tolerable if he had not held back so much for her sake and they had simply made love to each other every night. Now he was paying the price, and all she had to do was melt every last shred of resistance he had left in him.

She backed away from his cock suddenly, her mouth hovering over it and letting saliva drip down onto his tip as her tongue hung out for a moment and letting out a light gasp. Byleth looked down toward his wife in yearning, already missing the feeling of her tongue on him. She looked back at him, eyes half-lidded and meeting his gaze, gave him a playful smile.

“Don’t worry,” she teased, rubbing the underside of the crown with her thumb, causing him to clench the sheets and shiver at her touch. “It’s not over yet.”

Byleth shuddered in anticipation as to what she meant, but his question was answered when his wife descended back down and wrapped her wet mouth around the head of his cock. She had already gotten a taste of it before, strange yet oddly exciting, but to have some of it in her mouth now, she was quickly growing accustomed to it, and she thought to herself that perhaps this wasn’t as bad as she initially believed. 

He let out a surprised yelp and the head disappeared in her mouth, and involuntarily he lurched his hips up so that his cock suddenly went half way in. She gagged on it as her cheeks widened and eyes fully opened in shock, but otherwise she held herself in place.

“I’m sorry!” he quickly said as Lysithea looked up at him in mild annoyance, though his dick was still the same length inside her mouth. “I just… wasn’t expecting that.” She decided to ignore it and instead use it as a means to punish him further as she began slowly retracting herself back to where she once was. 

Once she returned to the top of his cock, she smiled coyly at him before she started to bob her head up and down around his manhood at a moderate pace. She kept a firm grip on his shaft while the other hand was on his thigh to encourage him to spread his leg out more, to which he complied. She kept her eyes trained on him, taking some amount of amusement as his face contorted at the waves of pleasure overtaking him from having her give him oral sex for the first time. Wanting to further drive the point of how displeased she was about him not touching for some time, she took his length deeper while maintaining a still comfortable amount to not test her gag reflex again.

Byleth felt like he was in heaven as Lysithea took him deeper than before. He had felt a pang of guilt come over him at thrusting suddenly into her, and for a fleeting moment he thought that might have been the end of it. He thanked Sothis that it wasn’t. This was a wild and rapturous new sensation for him, and he did not want it to end. Her technique was sloppy, only moving rhythmically up and down his shaft, but what she lacked in skill she made up for in zeal. 

When she began making wet, choking noises to accentuate her work as she went just a little further, one of his hands found its way to the back of her head to encourage her and let her know he was enjoying it. Whatever reservations she had about the taste before disappeared. It still tasted strange, but she found it to be intoxicating knowing that it was his. Her smallclothes were becoming soaked by this point, yet in her current state she cared little about staining them or her queenly gown as she lost herself in her lust.

Byleth began feeling a pressure build up within him, knowing what was coming from having done it plenty of times before, but a thought came to him. He shouldn’t be the only one getting enjoyment out of this, and given what she had said in her rage earlier, coupled with what she was doing now, he needed to remind her of his devotion to her.

“W-wait, Lys,” he struggled to call out, but her only response was glancing up at him and not losing a beat. “I-I…” Quickly noticing she wasn’t stopping, he instead leaned himself up and placed his hands on her shoulders to gently pull her off. Lysithea stared at him in a daze as saliva drooled down her bottom lip. Byleth burned that image into his mind to remind himself how cute she can be sometimes. “I want to pleasure you too.”

Lysithea tilted her head at him before his gaze naturally fell down to her nether regions. When she realized what he meant, she smiled sweetly at him while suppressing any apprehension at the idea.

Byleth lay himself back down while she swung herself around so that her hips hovered over his face, her gown draping itself around him. Lysithea resumed her work on him and once more enveloped her mouth around her lover, the latter issuing a relieved moan at being reconnected with her again. She took ahold of his shaft once more, feeling the stiff, slick cock in her palm for a moment before she started stroking it while sliding her head up and down in sync with her motions.

Meanwhile Byleth took fistfuls of her gown and lifted them upward so they bunched up around her waist in order to have better access to his own prize. He could now clearly see her soaked smallclothes, a large wet spot where her pussy was, and her nectar trailing down her inner thighs. A faint smile appeared on his face as gazed upon the result of his wife’s arousal, and now that the opportunity presented itself, he wanted to know just what she tasted like there. Hooking his finger he pulled aside her smallclothes, exposing the folds of her pussy to him and causing her to twitch. He wrapped his arms up and around her thighs and brought her close enough to his face and dragged his tongue up her womanhood.

A muffled, surprised moan escaped Lysithea’s lips at the new feeling on her most sensitive part, causing her to pause briefly from her work on him. She knew it was coming, yet to feel his slimy tongue on her pussy sent sparks racing through her, causing her body to flinch and tingle at the sudden and immense pleasure. She felt another appreciative lick down her pussy again, reminding her of her own task and she redoubled her efforts on him, wanting to bring him to climax more than ever now.

Taking her renewed efforts as a good sign, Byleth picked up the pace himself as he continued to eat his wife out. He found himself rapidly falling in love with her sweet taste and the feeling of her plump folds, and it only made him all the more hotter as Lysithea did the similar thing to him. He wished they could have done something like this before, but she had been adamant about not performing oral sex. Though he still felt what Claude had done earlier to bring her to this was despicable, a part of him did thank him for this chance. Perhaps now she might consider doing this again, albeit while not deep in her cups.

He brought his mouth closer to completely cover her pussy and proceeded to dart his tongue inside of her, wanting even more of her taste as she continued to leak onto his lips. Lysithea sloppy sounds were punctuated with her moaning as his tongue rubbed itself along her creases, and if it wasn’t for him firmly locking her in place she might have been squirming. She brought her other hand over his drool-covered cock and completely cupped the base, now flicking her own tongue back and forth as her arousal overtook her from his servicing. 

She could feel her own end coming now with Byleth’s tongue teasing eagerly inside of her. He was getting bigger in her hands, and she didn’t know whether or not to remove herself or remain there and take his load inside her. A mixture of lust and alcohol told her it didn’t matter. She was just so happy that she could be doing this sort of thing with him again even if what they were doing now was outside of her comfort zone, but she didn’t care. She needed this after so long of waiting, and she was determined to show him that the only woman he needed was her and-

“Mmmm!” She reflexively shuddered and her eyes burst open as she felt one of his thumbs rubbing her hardened clit, and it was the last thing she needed to tip her over the edge. 

Her legs tensed as she climaxed, a flood of her sweet nectar entering his mouth and some of it escaping and falling down his cheeks. Her hands tightening around his cock at her climax was enough to bring him to his own and in the middle of her throes she could not remove herself from him and her own mouth became a repository for his cum. Spurt after spurt coated her mouth white as the sticky, bitter substance clung to the roof and went down her throat. Surprisingly she did not gag at it, instead just instinctively swallowing it as it traveled into her. She too found herself loving his taste, though whether that was the wine talking she didn’t know.

It was only a moment that they lay there in afterglow before Lysithea realized that Byleth was still hard as rock in her hands. Her eyes widened in awe, and almost immediately her ecstasy returned. It was months. Months! Since they last had sex. She wanted more, and she wasn’t done with him yet.

“I can’t wait any longer!” she declared aloud as she held his cock in place. Still riding off the high of her climax, and with the rational part of her mind still shot, she scrambled up to hover over him. Without warning she plunged herself onto him and let out a delighted squeal, cumming again as she felt him fill her up completely. Despite her eagerness, there was little in the way of pain from her sensitivity, and her mouth having done its job in lubricating his cock to make entry easy.

“Yes! I missed this so much!” She began to ride him with vigor, leaning forward slightly to prop herself on his legs as her ass met his pelvis again and again. Her drenched, velvety interior caressed and massaged his cock with each thrust and retreat as though her body had missed this just as much as her mind did. It didn’t even matter to her that she was still in her royal attire and what might happen to it. All she wanted now was to feel good, and he was delivering splendidly.

Byleth had grunted the moment she fell on his cock, taken by surprise at how fast she was being and having forgotten how tight Lysithea was, especially after a long time of avoiding this. Waves of pleasure travel from his crotch throughout his body, heating him to the point where he felt as if on fire and reigniting the passion that he had held back for so long. He had wanted to do this just as much as she did, and now that they were everything else happening outside their room no longer mattered. All he wanted now was to just please his distraught queen after neglecting her for so long.

As he lay there and watched her bounce up and down on his cock, making wet, smacking sounds that echoed through the room as she did, he mentally berated himself for presuming Lysithea’s fragility. She was one of the strongest women he had ever met, having pushed herself far more than any person he had seen during her time as a student and later as a general during the war. She had survived having her twin Crests removed and the side-effects that followed, she held herself well ever since becoming queen, and even after giving birth to Lyla and Jeralt she still did not shatter. If she could handle all of that, then naturally she could handle this too.

Her strength was the one of the major reasons why he fell for her. Despite how much life had thrown at her, she never really let it bring her down to the point of collapse and always carried herself forward and challenged herself to overcome any obstacle. She had taken on so much since becoming royalty and his wife, yet deep inside his stone heart he knew she needed him just as much as he needed her. She had taken on much of their duties; the least he could do is provide an outlet to relieve her stress from them.

“Lysithea!” he called out, suddenly sitting himself up and grabbing hold of her larger than usual breasts and resting his chin on her shoulder. His eyes were closed as the overwhelming pleasure took control of him, and he fondled her breasts as he began adding his own thrusts to her motions. Her moans became louder as he continually reached the deepest parts in her, his cock kissing her cervix over and over. “Lysithea! Lysithea!”

“Byleth!” she answered back in ecstasy, turning to face him and both stared passionately into each other’s eyes before locking their lips into a deep kiss as she brought her arm up to his head. Both of them could taste the lingering fluids of each other from before, a mixture of both sweet and bitter that, under any other circumstance, would repulse them, but in their lust-filled haze it only reminded them of the other and they wanted to taste it more as their tongues swirled between their mouths.

In between their kissing, Byleth pulled down the top of her gown and brasserie to fully expose her breasts from their clothed prison. She mewled at the sudden contact of cool air touching her chest, and brought her remaining hand to his to encourage him further. He gave them a squeeze before moving on to her perky nipples and gave them a light pinch, forcing Lysithea to break away from their intimate kiss and let out a yell as she now let her voice ring out.

Lysithea could feel herself getting close again, her body on fire from his cock and nipple play and her moans now giving way to cries of pleasure as she touched her in all the right places, exactly what she missed for all this time. Milk started to trickle out in thin strands onto his hands as he continued to pinch at them and her body tingled all over as sparks raced all along her body. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this good, and she didn’t want it to end no matter what.

* * *

Further down the hall, Marianne busied herself covering Lyla up with her bed’s blankets. Leonie had already placed Jeralt in his crib and left after a brief conversation about seeing Lysithea in such a state. So used to the usually tempered Lysithea that to see her become far more whimsical with such little drink startled them. What had concerned both of them was the sudden shift in tone after Byleth decided to cut her off, the queen beginning to let loose at the troubled, private thoughts she kept hidden. It worried Lyla greatly about her parents, no matter how much Marianne tried to assure her that they would sort it out.

And with the deep red blush Marianne held on her face, she knew that they were, in fact, sorting it out as Lysithea’s pleasured cries echoed to the children’s room. It wasn’t the first time Marianne heard her like this, she knew Lysithea to be loud during this, but tonight the queen seemed particularly vocal about her… intimacy with Byleth.

“There’s those ghosts again, Auntie Mari,” commented Lyla as Marianne finished tucking her in. The maiden was glad that Jeralt had not woken up from the vulgar sounds; it was already well past his bedtime anyway.

“I-it’s okay, Lyla,” she replied nervously. “I’ll stay here with you and Jeralt so they don’t come and get you.” 

“Why do they sound like mommy...?” the little girl pondered.

“U-uh, w-well…” Marianne could feel herself start to sweat in a slight panic. “Ghosts have been known to use the voices of people you trust to lure you to them. T-that’s just what’s happening now.” She disliked having to lie to her “niece”, but then she could never say what the real source of the screams were. Lyla was far too young to understand, or to simply know in general.

Lyla’s eyes went wide in horror. “They can do that?!”

Marianne gulped. “Yes, but don’t you worry dear. If we wait it out together they will go away soon.”

“Thank you, Auntie Mari!” cheered Lyla as she scooted over to hug her “aunt”. Marianne reciprocated the action, glad that Lyla bought the ruse without making the situation more uncomfortable than it already was.

 _“Professooooooor!!!”_ she heard Lysithea scream and now the situation was more uncomfortable than it already was.

* * *

The royal couple had moved to the floor now, Lysithea sitting in his lap with her legs wrapped around Byleth as she continued to ride her husband hard with one hand on his arm and the other gripping the back of his head. Her body felt so hot she thought she might die, but in her mind it was more like she was already in heaven, having orgasmed a few times now and Byleth showing no signs of stopping even after he had just filled her up with his seed. Tears of joy were beading on the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision but still able to make out the face of her lover, which showed the signs of how much he was enraptured with what they were doing. Her mouth hung open letting out her loud yelps and mewls of pleasure each time his cock kissed her womb, not caring just who heard her.

Byleth had his eyes trained on hers, completely lost in her gaze upon him as her velvety pussy massaged his dick, its walls now lined with his cum with some of it seeping out and puddling beneath them along with her own juices. His hands were on her ass as he brought her down on him, her body no longer having the energy to keep pace after climaxing so many times and he not wanting this to end too soon. 

What drove him hard now was not only the guilt he felt in having neglected her for so long, but also the frustration he felt when she declared she had rather gone with her original plan. Whether she meant it or not, it hurt to hear it, and he was going to show her the error of such thinking as he rammed his dick into her as deep as it could go. And if he were being completely honest, her calling out his old title after he released inside her turned him on to new levels.

His eyes drifted down to her bouncing breasts and he found himself mesmerized by their motions and what else they were doing. Trails of milk leaked down her mounds, with some droplets being flung into the air with how hard he was fucking her. An idea crossed his mind as he watched and wondered what it tasted like. Having never been breast-fed before, this might be the only opportunity he had to try it out and see for himself. 

Placing one hand on her back, he brought one of her breasts to his mouth and began sucking on her teat with earnest, causing her to moan an octave higher while arching her back, allowing him even better access to his prize. For the most part it tasted incredibly sweet, but in the mix of it was a trace of bitterness to it that he felt in the back of his throat. Was this what a woman’s milk tasted like? Or did the wine she had before somehow get mixed into it? If that was the case he needed to make sure there wasn’t any of the wine left for Jeralt to inadvertently drink himself, and so he began alternating which breast he was sucking on every so often.

The queen could already begin to feel another orgasm approaching her as her king attacked every one of her most sensitive places, her milk being drunk up as soon as enough of it trickled out, and her tight pussy being filled to capacity. The world seemed to spin as she lost herself in her lust, every ounce of her desire being voiced in the room, an orchestra of her screams, his grunts and pants, and the wet, sloppy sounds of their pelvises smacking into each other. It was all becoming too much for the small woman as her body began to go numb, the only thing keeping her arms in place being sheer determination.

“B-Byleth!” she cried in ecstasy, unable to look at him as she focused on reaching the crescendo once more. “I-it’s too much! I’m g-going to break!”

Byleth stopped his sucking and looked up at his wife with half-lidded eyes. This was the point he had been utterly waiting for. His own punishment toward her for what she had said to him, and the way she looked when she thought of Cyril. When she thought of another man, yet had the audacity to accuse him of seeing another woman. He was going to shower her with devotion, but remind her that she was his and his alone.

And so, with the pressure in his groin building again once more, and ignoring his prior worries from before, he slowly leaned up to the side of her head and huskily whispered into her ear.

“Then break.”

Such a command and the manner of delivery was enough for Lysithea to tighten around him harder than before as she let out her strongest orgasm yet, screaming to no one in particular as she coated his cock in a new wave of her nectar. The vicegrip she gave him was enough to force his own release as ropes of his cum shot into her womb, painting it white for a second time. Both of their bodies went briefly numb at the sweet release, Byleth having to pause for a moment before he could move again.

But he was not done yet. He wouldn’t be done until it was etched in her mind that they belonged to each other and no one else.

Utilizing the power of his Crest, something he learned to do after Lyla’s conception, he recharged his stamina and went right back to thrusting into her, bringing about more screams of bliss from Lystihea as her now drenched walls made doing so easier than ever.

“W-wait…!” she whined meekly, though it sounded exhausted and sluggish. “I-I just came… it’s s-still sensitive…!”

Byleth ignored her, instead picking her up by her ass and practically stumbling toward the opposite wall, not once letting up on his motions and leaving a trail of drops of their liquid mixture behind. He pressed her up against the wall while moving to support her better by bringing his hand up to the small of her back. Her legs dangled behind him, bouncing in reaction to his thrusts, her body too weak to move anymore.

Lysithea somehow managed to wrap one arm around his neck for further support, but could not move the other and opted to rest it on the wall. Her body had lost almost all feeling save for the fast reminders of her pussy being pounded and sending shockwaves through her sweat-covered body. She felt as if she would faint she was so hot, and by now the effects of the alcohol were starting to wear off, not that it meant much in her current state. Her body was wracked with overwhelming pleasure, her sensitivity causing her to squeeze down on his cock and not wanting to let go. She didn’t want to let him go, not ever.

He looked down to her and could see her tongue lolling out as she had completely succumbed to him. Lysithea almost seemed to be in paradise as he rammed her over and over, cum and nectar jetting out and landing randomly beneath them. He was enraptured by what he saw and leaned down to kiss her deeply, an act that she only barely managed to reciprocate.

He pulled away a little to stare deeply into her tired, half-lidded eyes. “I’m going… to make you mine… all over again…”

“Y-yes…” she pleaded, as her earlier tears streaked down her cheeks. “Make… me yours… my love… please…”

Her plea to him was all that was left to hear, his punishment complete. After several seconds of rapid thrusting he could feel the pressure again, and with one final thrust he unleashed his own divine essence of the heavens within her holy temple. All Lysithea could say in reaction was let out a pleasured moan, too exhausted to go any louder, utterly spent. She let out stuttered gasps while holding a smile on her face, feeling as though she had achieved nirvana.

Byleth lowered themselves onto the floor, laying her gently down while he hunched over her, never unsheathing himself from inside her with a cocktail of their lovemaking oozing around his cock, her pussy and womb too full now to contain it. Both of them were in the midst of catching their breaths, and looked at each other with passion, love, and exhaustion.

“B... Byleth…”

“Lys…” He wrapped his arms snuggly underneath her and brought her against him to kiss her intimately. 

She managed to return the kiss, and slowly but surely wrap her limbs around him as they bathed in their afterglow. The stresses of before seemed to vanish for Lysithea, and all she felt now was joy, convinced in mind, and body, that Byleth still wanted her.

* * *

“They sure are taking long...” Raphael remarked as he looked around the surroundings of the table he shared with his former classmates. The guests were increasingly retiring for the night, most of which will be sleeping in the many inns and hotels in Derdriu while some who were in the Leicester region chose to travel back to their homes.

Claude chuckled, taking another sip of his wine from his goblet. Despite his strong tolerance for alcohol, the effects of drinking for the past few hours had begun to be more pronounced in him such as his face flushing red. Leonie was not too far behind with her own signs of drinking fairly large amounts of alcohol, though unlike most of her friends she was drinking ale, finding wine to be too fancy and weak.

“You really expected them to come back? Especially with Lysithea in that state?” Claude playfully asked.

Raphael looked confused. “Well, at least the professor… He just accompanied Lysithea to their room and tuck her to sleep… right?”

The looks he received from his friends varied with Ignatz and Lorenz veering away from his confused look, Leonie looked away while drinking from her mug of ale, Hilda was pretending to pat her swollen pregnant belly while Claude was obviously amused at Raphael’s awkward question.

“Raphael, I always thought you to be simple-minded but I never thought you would be so unaware of many things you should know by now,” Lorenz responded.

“Gee, way to explain what I’m trying to find out, Lorenz,” Raphael replied back with a frown.

Leonie sighed after taking a long sip of her ale, looking around in order to find someone who had also been gone from their table for quite some time.

“What’s wrong, Leonie?” Hilda asked the mercenary.

“Hmm, I’m just wondering what’s taking Marianne so long…” Leonie wondered, making out a few notable people from the dwindling number of guests such as Alois and Seteth conversing with Ferdinand and Constance over something.

All of the former students of the Golden Deer realized that besides their former professor and the star pupil of their class, Marianne had been gone for some time now and it baffled Leonie as she thought that tucking Byleth and Lysithea’s children was a simple and quick task to accomplish considering Jeralt was fast asleep when Leonie tucked him in his crib while Lyla didn’t seem like a difficult child to put to sleep. So what could have made Marianne stay longer than intended?

“She probably fell asleep trying to make Princess Lyla sleep,” Ignatz added the most logically sound conclusion.

“Well… Marianne is indeed the type to tell bedtime stories to children,” Hilda noted, thinking that despite Marianne having no husband or children of her own, there was this motherly aura that she projected whenever she was interacting with any child, mostly Lyla, perhaps even more motherly than Lysithea was.

“That doesn’t answer the question why the professor hasn’t come back yet though…” Raphael again inquired about Byleth’s whereabouts. “I’m pretty certain he just waited for Lysithea to sleep…”

There was another round of uncomfortable silence among the Golden Deer with the exception of Claude.

“Huh, I guess from how Raphael is unaware of the implications… I guess Ignatz and Maya haven't slept together yet.” Claude then looked at Ignatz with a smirk, prompting the bespectacled artist to flinch at being Claude’s next target of his teasing.

“CLAUDE!” Ignatz yelped out.

“Slept together? All the time,” Raphael replied.

“Raphael, I believe what Claude is trying to imply is diffe-- you know what, nevermind. I will not participate in such a coarse topic,” Lorenz sighed and instead took a small sip of his wine.

“And this is why you’re still single and have no children after all these years, Lorenz,” Claude teased with a smug smirk. “You’re too rigid in the wrong way possible.” 

Hilda snickered while Leonie coughed, thankful she managed to drink her ale down her throat by the time Claude responded otherwise she would have made a mess on the table.

Lorenz gave the Almyran king an indignant glare.

“I beg your pardon?! I’ll have you know that House Gloucester’s prestige is on the line and unlike you, I prefer to choose my wife meticulously as possible for the sake of my House and people!” Lorenz pointed at Claude with clear annoyance.

However, this raised Hilda’s ire rather than Claude who only mockingly gasped and placed a hand on his mouth as if pretending to be shocked.

“And what did you mean by that? Are you implying Claude chose poorly when he asked me to marry him?!” Hilda roared, her mood swings brought by her pregnancy kicking in.

Lorenz was taken aback at her reaction, immediately aware of his own blunder. In his annoyance towards Claude as well as the influence of the alcohol in his head, he didn’t think carefully in his choice of words to fight back against Claude’s verbal jabs at him.

“I-I did not mean to offend-”

“Choose your words carefully, Lorenz! You’re lucky I didn’t bring Freikugel with me or can wield it at this point! Otherwise I would…”

Ignatz stood up from his chair, making gestures for Hilda to calm down with a nervous look.

“Now now, let’s all calm down…”

Hilda huffed as Lorenz looked terrified seeing her snap like that all of a sudden. He had been accustomed to Hilda’s negative reactions being to the point of annoyance only that he was wholly unprepared for the Almyran queen’s mood swings leaning towards anger.

Deciding to think of something to avoid any verbal altercation from another moody queen, Ignatz tried to change the topic to something that he had longed to ask from Claude regarding one of Almyra’s customs that seemed unique to their culture.

“Anyway, Claude… I want to ask-”

“On your first night with Maya?” Claude interrupted with a smug smirk.

Ignatz frowned at him, his cheeks blushing red either from the alcohol or Claude’s inappropriate question regarding his sexual life with Maya.

“No. I can handle that myself.” Ignatz firmly replied before clearing his throat for his question. “Is it true that Almyrans can have many partners in matrimony? A polygamous culture?”

Leonie raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, I recall hearing about that from Nardel a while back… he was boasting how his “wives” are all fine warriors… I thought I must have been hearing things back then so I dismissed it…”

Claude gave Ignatz a nod of confirmation pertaining to his question. “That is correct, Almyrans can have as many wives or husbands they want as long as the parties involved are willing.”

“And are you planning on taking another woman as your wife?” Ignatz asked with apt curiosity.

“Uhh… Ignatz, that’s not really a question I’m too comfortable to-”

“I dare you to try that!” Hilda suddenly spoke with an irritated glare towards Claude. “Try that and I’ll divorce you and take our children back with me to Fódlan!”

Claude’s eyes widened at Hilda’s implication.

“Wait, I wasn’t even-” 

“Also, you can barely make me satisfied with yours. What makes you think you can satisfy another?” Hilda added which caused everyone at the table except for Raphael to spit out their wine, ale in Leonie’s case, as they coughed from the alcohol in their throats at Hilda’s unexpected words against Claude.

“Did you really have to point that out?!” Claude asked with a bewildered look as the remaining Golden Deer tried to process the fact that Claude’s performance in bed was barely enough to satisfy his beloved queen.

The fact that Hilda said it so shamelessly made it worse for their reaction. They decided to take their glasses of water to clear their throats once more. Unknown to them, Hilda wanted to get revenge on Claude for Lysithea’s sake when her husband tricked the Fódlan queen into drinking alcohol which resulted with her, Byleth, and Marianne to leave the table and were yet to return which was unlikely for the latter two. She had wanted to talk to them more and catch up, but Claude had to ruin such plans. That and the general moodiness she had been feeling as of late.

“Not to mention that disgusting beard of yours! I told you many times that you ought to shave it off!” Hilda pointed accusingly at Claude’s full but trimmed beard gracing around his mouth.

“Again, why are you so against the beard?!”

“Because it brushes me off the wrong way when your face goes down there!”

“I thought you loved it because it tickles you?”

“It’s not the kind of ticklish sensation that I want!”

The exchange resulted with the former Golden Deer minus Raphael spitting out their drinks once more, soaking the tablecloth with the water they were drinking as they coughed violently for the second time.

“W-Why am I surrounded by such…” Lorenz coughed. “Uncouth royals?!” He lamented as he desperately tried to get the scratching feeling in his throat out.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the bedroom of the crown princess and the infant prince of Fódlan laid Marianne, her back lying down on the soft bed. Lyla slept soundly beside her, the girl tenderly hugging her arm as she slept with a peaceful look.

A look that Marianne wished she had right now. She envied her niece to sleep so peacefully despite hearing the “ghosts” that she had to lie to Lyla about. The fact that Lysithea was so loud in making love with Byleth shocked her, but Lyla’s words earlier implied that Lysithea has always been that loud, with or without alcohol, seemingly unaware that people outside or even their own daughter could hear.

It made her forget about her own drowsiness as her thoughts drifted to the very first time she bore witness to Lysithea’s behavior when having sex. It was during the final days of the Verdant Rain Moon, and things were tense for the entire Alliance army during that time, especially in Garreg Mach as word of Holst’s defeat from the hands of the army led by Nemesis, spread around Fódlan. Nemesis had since led his undead army towards Garreg Mach and everyone who had gotten in their way were all defeated.The Alliance has been increasingly battered by the war, the Assault on Enbarr which led to Edelgard’s death had caused so many casualties on their side followed by the war they waged against Thales and the Agarthans in Shambhala.

Marianne couldn’t sleep that night due to the growing uneasiness she felt in the looming battle, a sentiment many among the army felt. As she couldn’t sleep, she decided to wander Garreg Mach’s grounds and go around to places she frequented and had fond memories of with her friends during their days in the academy, treating it as a final sentimental journey she must undertake to find her resolve to continue fighting for the people she loved.

After visiting Dorte at the stables, Marianne went to the last place she saved for last: the classroom of the Golden Deer house where Professor Byleth taught them. It was a place filled with a plethora of fond memories Marianne could immerse herself in.

Yet, such thoughts ceased when she began hearing noises in the classroom she shared fond memories with her friends, noises that were mostly grunts from a man and moans from a woman, both of which sounded eerily familiar to Marianne. The moans and grunts aside, Marianne could hear the scandalous sounds of their hips slapping each other as well as the squelching wet sound of sex that echoed across the classroom.

She prayed to the Goddess, hoping she was wrong on who were participating in such a vulgar activity in that place of memories until she heard the woman utter the word...

_“Professor…”_

Which were followed by…

_“Lysithea…”_

It was too much for Marianne that she quickly fled back to her room that night when she witnessed her former professor making love with Lysithea on the table that the latter had frequently sat herself at during class.

She knew back then of the growing romantic tension between the two, but she didn’t quite anticipate that they would involve themselves in an act of fornication. Was iit desperation that drove them to commit such things, knowing that the battle tomorrow may be their last?

That was what Marianne thought as she laid down on her bed, unable to fall asleep due to the looming battle tomorrow as well as the fact that she had just witnessed Byleth and Lysithea having sex in the classroom that held so much memories for all of the Golden Deer. She woke up the next day with Hilda commenting that she looked as terrible as she used to be when they were in the academy due to the heavy bags under her eyes.

The fact that Lyla was born months after the Verdant Rain Moon and Nemesis’ defeat was all the confirmation Marianne needed: Lyla was conceived during that fateful night in the classroom, Lysithea’s slightly swollen belly during her wedding with Byleth was another sign of confirmation.

Mirroring her restless night during that time, Marianne merely stared at the ceiling of Lyla and Jeralt’s room. No matter how many times she tried to blink and close her eyes, they would shoot wide open as the memory of Lysithea’s moans echoed across her mind.

They had stopped for quite some time now but, was it truly the end?

Regardless, Marianne knew she won’t be able to get some sleep tonight. She will have to talk to Byleth and Lysithea regarding their nightly activities that Lyla can overhear, dreading that her niece will eventually find out sooner than necessary if such noise continues in future nights ahead.

* * *

The royal couple by this point had recovered enough strength to have moved themselves back to their bed to retire for the night. Both were on their sides lying naked and facing each other, their clothes discarded and scattered on the floor to cool themselves from their intense love session, and the covers coming about halfway up their bodies.

Byleth gazed at his wife happily as she rested before him, her eyes gently shut and mouth barely open as the effects of the wine seemed to have worn off by this point and she appeared to be fast asleep. He knew otherwise; Lysithea was not one to fall asleep so easily, but with how much they had done some minutes ago, coupled with the crash that comes from imbibing, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that this was the time for her to be knocked out.

It had been a truly fantastic experience, both for him and seemingly for her too. He had gone far too long without that sweet release, his hand only able to do so much when thinking about her from these past months of chastity. He chided himself for thinking wrongly before. He was a tactician, he should’ve been able to read the situation for what it was and know that she needed that release too. Yet he was no psychic and could not read her mind; how was he supposed to know what she was thinking or feeling?

His small smile faded as he thought about it more. He at least knew what he was thinking, and it was causing him concern. Despite how intense and passionate their sex was, he still couldn’t help but think back to what she said earlier, of how she wished she had gone with her original plan to fade away after retiring her parents. Was it just the pent up stress mixed in with the wine talking? Or… was that how she truly felt? It both saddened and angered him that she would think like that. Was all that effort for nothing then? Was everything that happened after just a mistake?

Then there were the looks she had on her face from before, that look of resentment toward him when they were with the others in particular. Was it because of him trying to intervene and she saw it as him coddling her? Or was it because of the lack of affection he had shown recently and her feeling unwanted, something that he hoped he remedied tonight. What got him more was how she reacted to Cyril’s absence, a look of guilt that struck her face, but the reason for it escaped him. Was it because of the turn the Almyran man’s life had taken, or was it something more? The latter thought troubled him the most along with her temper-induced declaration.

He let out a sigh before his eyes filled with resolve. It was going to be impossible for him to sleep with these worrying questions plaguing his mind. He needed answers from her, but he would need to approach this carefully.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it soothingly up and down the uncovered portion of her arm, feeling the faint, white scars of battles long since past on her otherwise smooth skin.

“Lysithea?” he whispered as he coaxed her. “Are you still awake?”

“Mmhmm,” she hummed groggily as she slowly nodded her head. “Just resting my eyes…”

“How are you feeling?”

Slowly she opened her eyelids, and he could easily tell how tired she was, but otherwise met his gaze with a soft smile. “Much better now, in more ways than one. That was… incredible.”

“I’m glad to hear it…” Though his words seemed genuine, the stoic look on his face informed Lysithea that there was something else on his mind right now. “Lysithea, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Lysithea could feel the exhaustion leave at the seriousness of his tone.

Byleth sat up and propped himself as his gaze on her turned melancholy. “It’s about… what you said earlier.” He paused briefly, mentally collecting himself for what he was about to ask her. “Do you… regret our marriage?”

If she wasn’t awake before, she certainly was now at the alarming question. “What?! Where is this coming from?!”

“Would you have preferred to have been with Cyril instead?”

Lysithea almost couldn’t believe what was being asked of her. The very idea that he worried she was thinking about some other man but him was shocking. “Why would you even think that?!”

“It’s just… the way you looked earlier when the others were talking about him, and that look of resentment you gave me while you were pouring the wine… I thought perhaps you might have regretted marrying me and not him. From what I’ve learned he seemed pretty attracted to you.”

“What?!” Horror was starting to creep into her mind as Byleth recounted her words and actions from before, and with her mind returning to normal she was beginning to recall what she had done. “I have never once regretted marrying you! Yes, it has been stressful for me these past months, but never once did I ever doubt my decision or my feelings for you!”

Byleth looked to be increasingly more sullen as his doubts weighed on him further, and he turned away from her as he went on. “Well what you said earlier… how you would have rather gone with your original plan of just letting your Crests kill you… I must admit, that did hurt me. It made me feel as though that effort to save you was wasted…”

“I…” The horror was plain on her face now as her eyes widened and jaw hung open, unable to formulate a response. Now that she was more or less sober she did remember saying such things to him in her drunken rage, things that were simply not true in her mind but nevertheless did say them, unable to control how far she could go while in her stupor.

She cursed the fact that the wine loosened her tongue to that point, and now those words were coming back to haunt her. She became filled with regret at how they had affected him, especially at the admission of how he felt the effort to save her felt wasted. As someone who avoids it as much as possible, to have Byleth admit how his own effort to save her life felt wasted because of what she said hurt her too. It was the most noble and kind thing anyone had done for her, and to have the man responsible for thinking it was a waste of time was terrifying. That she knew it was her fault for him thinking that way only magnified it.

“Were Lyla and Jeralt a mistake too?”

“No!” she answered immediately with raised voice, maternal thoughts overriding her shock. “I could never think of them as such!”

“I mean, how Lyla was conceived… that wasn’t planned…”

Lysithea groaned as she clutched the sides of her head. “Stop! I don’t want to recall how we defiled that classroom of ours with what we did!”

By now even he was starting to say some hurtful words to her, his melancholy leading him down a slippery slope. Lyla and Jeralt were two of the most important people to her, the daily reminders of her newfound life that otherwise would have never happened if it hadn't been for Byleth’s efforts. For him to think that none of this should have happened was enough for her to start to feel tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

“Even so,” he continued, his expression and tone still gloomy, “You accused me of treating you as someone to just produce heirs and do the work of rebuilding Fódlan for me. That isn’t true at all, but... if that’s how you really feel, then…”

“B-Byleth, stop…!” She could see a tear starting to form on his eye and she planted her hands firmly on his shoulders to force him to look at her. She needed to take control of the situation, and needed to correct the mistakes she made.

“Lysithea?” he muttered, stunned to see that she was on the verge of crying herself. “Are you…?”

Lysithea brought her hands to cup his face and leaned her forehead on his to gaze into his lime green eyes.

“Byleth,” she began in a gentle voice, “What you did for me was the greatest gift anyone could have ever given me. You gave me my life back, and it was my decision to spend that life with you. Lyla and Jeralt are very precious to me, and they will always be my reminders of the second chance I was given.”

Lysithea glanced down in shame. “I know I said some… hurtful words in my state, and I’m sorry that I did. It’s just… it’s been really hard on me lately with ruling Fódlan, teaching you politics, and taking care of the children. And on top of all of that, my husband wouldn’t even make love to me to relieve all the stress that built up. We don’t get to spend as much time together as we used to, where it’s just Byleth and Lysithea and not the rulers of Fódlan.”

She leaned back slowly and returned her gaze. “I at least wanted for our nights to be just between us after we put the children to bed, but you wouldn’t even do that. I thought it might be because I wasn’t attractive to you anymore, that I was just an adviser to you, albeit one that was also the mother of your children. Which was why I lashed out the way I did, although if I had my temper under control I would have put it more tactfully.”

Byleth didn’t answer immediately, taking the moment of hearing her grievances to heart and reflecting on them. She had been taking on a lot, and upon listening to her words he had to admit that he had been unfair to her in that regard. He knew that she was far more experienced in such matters with having had a noble upbringing, and between rebuilding Fódlan and caring for their children he let her take the lead on those matters because of it.

What he didn’t understand was her point of view of it all. It made sense that she felt like that, and now he was the one to feel ashamed for not considering her feelings on it and talking to her directly, instead operating under his own assumptions.

“...I guess I never truly realized just how much you were hurting from all of this,” he confessed, his gaze softening. “You have been taking on a lot more work than before, and judging from what you said I haven’t been doing my fair share as both king and husband.”

A smile crept on Lysithea’s face as she brushed the tears away, happy that he understood her underlying concerns.

“I aim to change that starting tomorrow,” he resolved. “From now on I will help however I can on whatever tasks we have to ease your burden. I think we should also set aside some time in the day to be with Lyla and Jeralt and simply be their mother and father.”

“And will you also tend to my… needs…?” Lysithea could feel her cheeks warm as she blushed at her own question. Byleth’s eyes flashed as his own face matched her color.

“...W-with interest… although… can you use your mouth again?”

Lysithea’s brows furrowed. “Absolutely not. I don’t even know what came over me when I did that.”

Byleth mentally sighed before clearing the lump that had built up in his throat before continuing. “We are royals. If we decide we want to handle a task for later, then we can do it later.”

Lysithea was practically beaming as her heart soared from this newfound resolve he was exhibiting. If he remained true to his word, and she had no doubt he would, then she looked forward to seeing what this more relaxing version of their lives would be like.

“But you know what, my love?” she replied. “I think for now let’s just savor the moment we have now… we can figure everything else out tomorrow… together…”

Byleth nodded and brought his hand to her cheek and leaned in for a kiss. Lysithea answered in kind and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“So I don’t have to worry about you running off with Cyril at some point?” Byleth asked jokingly, though in his usual tone it didn’t seem that way.

“Of course not!” she answered firmly. “Especially after how he abandoned Claude and Hilda when they needed him!”

“When I think what the others said, it did sound like he was very attracted to you.”

“The feeling is not mutual,” she scowled, folding her arms across her chest. “Just because I taught a boy how to read and write does not mean I hold any sort of romantic feelings for him. I see him as a younger brother, and that’s it. I only looked that way earlier because I just feel a little guilty about what he’s become.” She paused momentarily and lowered her arms down. “But while we’re on the subject, I don’t have to worry about you doing the same with another woman, right?”

Byleth gave a reassuring smile as he shook his head. “No. I only have eyes for you.”

“Good…” Byleth wrapped his arms around her hips as she once more brought her’s around his neck and they pressed their lips together in a deep kiss. At once Lysithea could feel his member hardening against her leg, and she pulled away briefly to look down at it.

“Haven’t had enough, huh?” she teased in a sultry tone.

“I can’t help it,” he answered as a silent message was communicating to them in their eyes. “Seeing you naked does this to me. Do you… want to go for another round?”

Lysithea giggled sweetly while shaking her head. “You are insatiable.”

“That’s not a ‘no’.”

“You’re right… it isn’t…” Taking that as his cue, Byleth dragged his arms up along her back, making sure to avoid the large scar across it as he did, and laid her down on their bed as she brought her arms up to his back. They kissed one another passionately as he grinded his erect cock on her folds, already beginning to feel the horniness return to her. As he inserted himself slowly once more and eliciting a low moan from his wife, both lovers felt relief and joy as their prior tension dissipated and the flame rekindled between them.

* * *

**Just a visual for Lyla, drawn by: Oni Kagura**

**Author's Note:**

> SuperbOwl’s note: I really enjoyed doing this with kenji! It was an idea we came up with some time ago, but only recently decided to put it all into words. Not only did I get another chance to flex my smut-writing muscles, but exploring Lysithea and how she would act during sex while drunk, coupled with kenji’s setup, was great fun too. It was especially nice to write them to be a bit more aggressive than how I wrote them in Scars, Lilies, and Us. Hopefully others will agree that it’s much more raunchy than that xD.
> 
> kenji1104's note: This story has been a long time coming from me and SuperbOwl after months of discussing, it all came up as simply just a random but fun idea that we eventually decided to tackle on upon further discussions and renewed interest, SuperbOwl had done the illustrious honor of providing you all the smut that made people thirsty for more with his work on Scars, Lillies and Us and even better, we decided to incorporate his smut-writing muscles into a sequel of Broken Hourglass. Besides just writing smut, we wanted to also explore the various challenges Byleth and Lysithea would face as a married couple, we didn't want to make it all too happy for them and believe that they will have potential problems in their marriage that would sprout from time to time like most relationships in real life does.


End file.
